Date
Wednesday, July 08 to Friday, July 10
Location
Olin College of Engineering
Build a makerspace that transforms learning.
Across engineering education, makerspaces have become essential hubs for hands-on learning, creativity and innovation. Yet the most successful makerspaces are defined not by their equipment, but by their culture, curriculum integration and community stewardship.
What is the the Makerspace Institute at Olin College?
The Makerspace Institute: Empowering Your Makerspace Through Curriculum and Culture is a three-day immersive experience designed for educators and staff who want to strengthen—or reimagine—the role their makerspace plays in student learning. Participants will gain practical strategies, pedagogical frameworks, and firsthand insight into how Olin’s student-led makerspaces operate as a learning ecosystem.
This program, from July 8-10, 2026, blends hands-on experience, educational design and cultural insight to help you build a makerspace that is inclusive, sustainable, and deeply integrated into your institution’s teaching and learning goals.
Who Should Attend?
The Makerspace Institute is designed for:
• Faculty members (new and experienced)
• Makerspace managers and professional staff
• Academic leaders involved in experiential learning
• Students and recent graduates contributing to makerspace design or leadership
• K–12 educators (with options for Massachusetts DESE Professional Development credit)
Participants share a common goal: using making as a powerful tool for learning, inclusion, and institutional impact.
For more information
Or to reserve your spot in this year's Makerspace Institute, email:
What You’ll Experience
Learn from a Student-Led Makerspace
Participants will spend time in the Olin Shop alongside the students who run it, gaining rare insight into:
- What it means to operate a student-led makerspace
- How trust, responsibility, and ownership shape maker culture
- Ways to foster belonging, stewardship, and peer learning
From Tools to Teaching
Through hands-on rotations and guided discussions, participants will explore major categories of makerspace equipment—including 3D printing, laser cutting, woodworking, and metal machining—while learning:
- Capabilities, tradeoffs, and common use cases
- How access models shape learning and inclusion
- How equipment choices align with curricular goals
Design for Impact
The Institute takes a pedagogical lens throughout, helping participants:
- Integrate fabrication meaningfully into curriculum
- Assess the educational impact of making
- Align makerspace design with institutional mission and values
Participants will spend time in the Olin Shop alongside the students who run it, gaining rare insight into ways to foster belonging, stewardship, and peer learning, and much more.
Core Topics
Participants will engage with key principles that underpin effective, inclusive makerspaces, including:
- Building a strong culture of belonging and shared responsibility
- Selecting and managing equipment strategically
- Designing staffing and training models that empower students
- Creating safety systems that prioritize learning without unnecessary barriers
- Navigating policy, insurance, legal, and regulatory considerations
- Translating makerspace practices into curricular impact
Sessions include panels, hands-on learning, peer discussion, and open Q&A focused on applying ideas in participants’ own institutional contexts.
Program Details
Format: In-person, immersive experience.
Duration: Three full days (with optional local makerspace tours).
Location: Olin College of Engineering, Needham, MA.
Cost: $3,000 per individual (institutional teams encouraged).
The program fee includes: Three days of programming on Olin’s campus, daily lunch, optional tours of local makerspaces. Travel and lodging are not included.
Participants are encouraged to arrive with a general sense of their makerspace goals to maximize the value of the experience.
What You'll Leave With
- Practical strategies for strengthening makerspace culture
- Clear approaches to curricular integration
- Models for staffing, safety, and access
- New perspectives grounded in real practice
- A network of peers working toward similar goals